Well I was very excited when I checked the Vonage website and it finally said local numbers were availible in my area. I quickly signed up and sent in my LNP form.

A month later, nothing had changed. My status was still "Waiting for response from carrier." Ok, I've read the posts here, so I'm not worried. I send an email just to prod them along. The next day I have Vonage's response in my inbox.

"I am contacting you in regards to your number transfer. We did receive your request however we currently do not offer number portability in your local area. We are continually expanding our market availability and plan to offer this option for all Vonagecustomers. Please check the website for your number if we start offering service in your area code or if we add new numbers in your area."

Huh? Why not tell me this when I sent my request in?

So I call in to cancel my acct. After being on hold for half an hour, the rep (who was very friendly, wish I remembered her name) thinks its a mistake and in fact they will be able to port my number.

Great! I'll wait. Another half hour on hold while she checks and suddenly her Supervisor determines that NO, they cannot do it because the company that they use to do the porting that could do it, doesnt service my area yet.

Ok, that stinks. Please cancel me and credit me for the month that I couldnt use the phone. The very helpful rep agrees, but has to transfer me to another dept for that. Well after another 10 minutes I had to take another call. Sheez, who knew I'd have to block out a couple hours to cancel a service that only took minutes to sign up for.

Well I call back the next day and its like I'd never called. Had to go through the same story and this time it seems like they dont want to credit my acct. The rep today was very short with me and when I asked about being credited, she suddenly transferred me to another dept w/o any warning. (Naturally I was on hold during this transfer.) And while on hold, emails start pouring in:

You are authorized to return the device listed below. Your RA# is *****************

All returns must include the original manufacturer's packaging, manuals and cables or any applicable credit will be reduced.

Device(s) must be returned within 14 days of the issuance of the RA#.If the device is not returned within this timeframe, your RA# will expire and you may be charged the full price of the device or a disconnect charge of $39.99 depending on the situation.

Followed immediately by this one:

Account Number: *********************Amount of Transaction: $41.19

Dear Greg,

Your Vonage DigitalVoice service has been cancelled and a final charge of $41.19was issued to your credit card on 06/07/2005.

Wow! I knew I'd been on hold awhile, but FOURTEEN days have already passed? PLUS, I'm responsible for the shipping charges to return the equipment.

Now, Vonage has billed my credit card somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 and I have only made a couple of calls to test the install.

After explaining my whole story again the yet another rep that finally came on the line, she explained that she would have to email a request to ANOTHER dept to see if I can get any credits issued to my acct.

I'm supposed to get a response in 48 hours from that dept, so I'll keep you posted. I'll have to say that I'm a little put out that they are so quick to bill me for equipment that I've barely used and will return at MY expense, but getting anything back from them is like pulling teeth.

Here's the reply I got this afternoon. No mention of being credited for the time I couldnt use the phone. Or even and explaination why they charge in advance for the equipment.

(Just to note, it wasnt my email, it was the CSR so I have no idea what was exactly passed on to Tlong)

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting customer care. In response to your email, we are unable too provide you with a return label for the equipment. As per the terms of service, once an account is terminated, the customer is responsible for shipping back the device. Once the device is returned2 to us, we will then credit back the $41.19 termination fee to your credit card. Thank you.